I just finished a two-week trip (Sep 17-29) trip to Spain with my wife. I am caucasian and she is Japanese. Well, she definitely got a lot more casual attention because of her looks. People tended to stare at her a bit because I think she is just rare there. There was no hostility, just benign curiosity. Safety, however, was never a concern because she was with me all the time.

Most Japanese, though, stick out like sore thumbs because they travel in tour groups and are quite gaudy, with their huge suitcases and Japanese fashion. They must be easy prey for the pickpockets and fast-talkers.

Hey PHY...I was in Spain for 3 weeks in September as an Asian, alone. I must say the only time I felt uncomfortable was in Madrid, whereas in Granada, Seville, and Barcelona I felt quite comfortable. The fact that I almost got mugged in Madrid during broad daylight outside the Prado Museum and being constantly reminded by waitresses, hotel reception, and people on the street that I need to watch out for my belongings most certainly put a deadend to the vacation mood. Since I started in Madrid, I thought I was doomed for the rest of the trip. Fortunately, the rest of the 3 weeks was much more pleasant and ending in Barcelona was simply marvelous. I have travelled alone/with friends through France/Germany/Switzerland/Amsterdam/Belgium and never ever felt unsafe like I did in Madrid. So despite the fact that I think this site is fantastic and found a ton of useful information before leaving, I must say that I fail to see the charm in Madrid. Hopefully I won't be removed from the site right after this post, but I think people need to hear different perspective/ experiences. WOuld go back to Barcelona in a blink, but never Madrid.

Picard-
I'm sorry you're experience in Madrid left you with such a negative image of Madrid. Its difficult for me to understand why people choose to dislike an entire city because of one bad experience. Things like that can happen anywhere at any time. As travelers we have to be cautious, and even then sometimes its not enough, but if its going to happen, its going to happen.

I wouldn't worry about getting kicked off the board, its not just about madrid, but all of spain, and as you said, people's experiences, positive or negative are always valued. I only hope that if you find yourself again in spain, and perhaps even in Madrid, you can give it another chance with an open mind. When one gets mugged or robbed or whatever, it takes some time to get over it and I hope your next experience will be a positive one. And if you really will never go again, well, there's plenty of other wonderful cities and things about Spain to enjoy!

Happy Travels!

One more point MATADOR to verify your view. The Moors that assisted Franco were very, very black as I have seen pictures of them. It must have been devastating during the Civil War to have black people attacking Spaniards. This is more likely what the older people cannot forget in southern Spain.

gazpacho,

There were never black moors in Spain. In fact the Moors were caucasian people 1200 years ago (now they are much more mixed). The small army composed of moors that had Franco was just a personal army (ie, bodyguards). The Moors that came to Spain in 711 looked like this:

Illustrations from Cantigas de Santa Maria, 13th century, reign of Alfonso X

http://www.angelfire.com/md/8/cantigas/cant181ef.jpg

http://www.angelfire.com/md/8/cantigas/cant181d.jpg

http://www.angelfire.com/md/8/cantigas/cant181b.jpg

http://www.angelfire.com/md/8/cantigas/cant099f.jpg

http://www.angelfire.com/md/8/bayadriyad/bayad-y-riyad-5.jpg

http://www.angelfire.com/md/8/moors.html

So the ones that say that the Moors that came to Spain were black they are just saying nonsenses. The Moors were pure caucausians.

Ok, ERT, here's to black moro's being nonsense. Check out the last link you set up, and scrool down until the pictures depicted are actually in color and lo and behold, a 'afrocentric' moor! :p

I'm not saying that all of the moros in spain at that time were black, and if you want to get into skin colors, well, they were darker than the spaniards at that time... arab people are darker skinned than 'white' people, and there were plenty of those around! I don't think any of us can get into how many of who was where, none of us were there! All I'm saying, and I know for fact, that Spain, be it the conquorer, or conquored, always mixed with the new people, and for the ones that stayed in spain, well, this is part of the reason our our features have evolved as you see them today.

So, no, its not nonsense. I'm just as sure of being spanish as I am that somewhere along the line I've got some link to the moores, as I do with the romans! Need I go on?

And just out of curiousity, what in the world is a 'pure' caucasion?! Personally, I don't think such a thing exists! I can prove it, and you know what I'm GLAD!

But you know, we're just talking about skin tones here, we're all people, so what's the big deal!?

I remember from my school days that almohads and almoravids were original from Sudan, and thus, were very very black. They were defeated by an alliance of christian and muslim spaniards though.

The original moors who invaded Spain were north-african, and thus, caucasian.

Fernando

ERT, I refer to Hugh Thomas' "Spanish Civil War" p. 373. "The Moors- Los Moros - had always been villains in Spanish fairy stories: they now became the focus of terror throughout southern Spain."
Some bodyguard. In the next sentence it refers to "1.000 were even killed at the small town of Almendralejo."

Hi Espe3
I didn't want to take up too much space whinning here, which is why I didn't go on to describe the many other "encounters" I had after the "incident" with rude waiters/unhelpful people. I agree that we have to be cautious while travelling, and believe me I was after reading the postings here, but perhaps my string of fun/safe travelling in many other places in Europe has to come to end at some point! And yes, I will go back to other parts of Spain, like Barcelona, in a heartbeat!

Yeah, and jesus christ had blond hair and blue eyes as depicted inpaintings during those times. I find this hard to believe.